


The path chosen (in a moment of stupidity)

by Orlha



Series: Ashes to Ashes [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-21
Updated: 2016-03-22
Packaged: 2018-05-28 04:51:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6315604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Orlha/pseuds/Orlha
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>With great power comes great responsibility. Darcy Cassandra Lewis made choices without realising that the path she picked was a path that she would probably never be able to choose again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Ducking the first punch, she spun around, slamming her foot into the taller man. She used the pivotal force to swing her body upwards, crushing the burly man’s nose with her knee with a satisfying crunch.

“That’ll teach you to steal money from an old man!”  She shifted her body to the right when her foresight alerted her of a punch from the left. The short man’s punch missed her narrowly. Cass could smell the rank stench of days old sweat on him as it whizzed passed her face. “Ew. Ever heard of a bath?”

Tall man growled. “Ever ‘eard ‘f shudding up?” He gripped her by her shoulders. Cass dropped her weight and the tall man staggered in surprise. A quick sweep of her feet sent the tall man reeling backwards into the trash can.

Burly man eyed her, still clutching his bleeding nose. “E’ve ju’t a b’oody ‘itch.”

_Swing from the left, then bring the bat from the right to her left knee._

Cass side-stepped his left swing, bouncing the bat with her power off her knee. Too little for anyone to notice, not anyone amateurish as them in any case. She body tackled short man, his head slamming into the wall and his eyes rolled backwards as he fell unconscious. Still breathing. She spun around fast enough to use the burly man’s strength against him, sending him face first into the ground. Twisting herself onto his back, she slammed his face several more times for good measure. “Not. A. Bitch,” she grunted between breaths.

All three men were successfully subdued. She hadn’t expected to find herself stopping an armed robbery in the middle of the night… okay. She _might_ have been out looking for crimes to stop but _not_ an _armed_ robbery. Super special powers like Spiderman or Hawkeye weren’t exactly her kind of thing.

Cass groaned, feeling each bruise on her more keenly now that the adrenaline was beginning to wear off. The old man, whose shop she had just stopped from getting robbed, stuck his head out at the prolonged silence.

“Kid?” he rasped.

Checking that her face mask was still properly secured, Cass pulled herself off the ground with a mental whimper. That was when she heard the sirens. Without another word, Cass vaulted herself over the fence, rolling into a ball to dissipate the force. Behind her, she could hear the sounds of the nearing sirens. Tonight wasn't the worst night she had, but it sure wasn't one of the best. There was a growing ache on her lower back where the would-be muggers had managed to catch her off guard and a small but still painful cut just below her clavicle; Edward would hound her about it. Just thinking about that made her gut twist, Edward could be worse than a dog with a bone.

With a heave of relief at the sight of her home, Cass swung a foot up the tree trunk, sending a tendril of power to her closed window, pushing it open as she leapt into her room. She turned around. Struggling a few moments with shutting the window before finally succeeding and caught sight of the luminous digital numbers emblazoned on her clock.

Three am.

At least she would catch another three hours of sleep before school. Her rambling thoughts cut short at the low baritone behind her, “So that's where you've been going to at night.”

She froze. Slowly turning on one foot to face the voice, she said, “Edward.. I can explain...”

He growled, jerking the wrestling mask off her face. “A wrestling mask? What the _hell,_ Cassandra? What were you thinking? Is that a bruise?” He wrenched her head up, hand fumbling to turn her bedside lamp on. “Christ. Cass. Were you fighting someone? Are you secretly sneaking out to see someone and is he abusing you? Or are you taking drugs or something?”

“Edward. Edward _._ _Dashwood Edward Lewis_.” She peeled her eldest brother’s hands from her face and slapped her palms onto his cheeks. “I’m fine.”

“If this is your version of fine, I really hate to see what your version of bad is.” He folded his arms with an expectant look. “Go on. Explain. I’m not leaving here until you _explain_.”

She sighed. “It’s a really long story… and it’s three am. Can this wait at least until morning?”

“Actually.. It’s three in the morning. So technically it’s already _morning._ ” And while Cass loved her eldest brother for the amount of shenanigans they got up to together, she had already been beaten, punched at, shot at (but missed), evaded police, cycled an awfully long way back home and was beyond exhausted.

“It still is a really long story,” she started and stopped at her brother’s stubborn look. “I do have classes in the morning.”

“Then _you_ should have thought of that before you decided to go _traipsing_ around in the _middle_ of the night,” he cocked her an eyebrow.

“Fine.” Cass pulled her grimy shirt off, chucking it into the laundry bin. “Look. It all started with Francis.” She paused in mid-motion of putting her head through her shirt. “Remember that day when Francis ran away?” She asked, her voice muffled through her shirt.

“That night after the circus?”

“Yea. It all started at that very moment.”

 


	2. Chapter 2

“Francis?” She could see her brother freeze in mid-step. His body was halfway out of the window, hands clutching the sides of the window as he tilted a fraction to look at her. Cass stared at him afraid of what was happening, her small hands gripping so tightly on Mr Bunny that she could feel the individual pouches of cotton in her stuffed bunny.

“Go back to sleep, Cassie.”

“I had a nightmare,” she whispered into the thick darkness. She _always_ came into Francis’ room to sleep when she had a nightmare, it was how things were done here. Sometimes Edward had girls over and more often than not, he wasn’t around. He was a grown-up now and he had grown-up things to do, not that Cass understood that. Grown-up things looked boring and Edward was always reading those boring books that had no pictures in them.

Francis hesitated for a moment before motioning to her over and Cass pattered over, curling her arms into his outstretched arms. “Cass, listen to me. I’ve got to get out of here. I did something bad, got into some bad things. I need you to stay here and look after Mr Bunny. I’ll be back for you if I can. Dash will be back in two weeks. You can hold out for two weeks can you?”

Cass didn’t respond, she didn’t want to. There was a heaviness in her stomach that told her this might be her last time seeing her second brother. “Come on, Darce.” He sighed and stroked her head, saying her horrid first name like it was his most treasured thing in the world. “You’re almost six. You’re a big girl now.” She could feel him checking his watch as he held her close. “I have to go now.”

Francis tried to pull her arms away from him but she jerked, holding tightly onto his arm. “Please don’t leave me.”

“I’ll be back in the morning.”

“Pinky promise?”

“Pinky promise,” he assured her and held out his pinky. He hooked his pinky with hers and kissed the top of her head. “I’ll see you in the morning. Keep Mr Bunny safe okay?” he repeated as he pulled the window down.

But Francis wasn’t at the breakfast table in the morning or the morning after that or even the one after that. She wasn’t as good at taking care of herself as Francis took care of her. She tried her best and she knew her best wasn’t enough judging by the looks her teacher was giving her. Edward wasn’t around to run interference if her teacher decided to do something so she had to do something.

It was six mornings later that Cass decided she had to find Francis. The feeling in her stomach was growing. She _had_ to find him, Francis needed her and he needed her now. She wasn’t sure why she knew that or how she was even going to find him just that she had to. Cass tied Mr Bunny to her back, doing her best to tie her worn sneakers before slipping out into the growing darkness. Papa wouldn’t even notice her disappearance, he never did. He only cared about Edward. Edward was the Lewis’ pride.

Pedalling on her pink bicycle, Cass followed the strange feeling in her gut. She was cold and hungry but she didn’t let that stop her. There was no going back without Francis. No supper, no breakfast. Her hair was a bit dingy, she wasn’t as good as washing her hair herself yet. Her shoelace was trailing as well. She had done her best to tie a good knot like Edward showed her before he went away but after the fifth time she stopped to re-tie it, Cass felt like she was wasting more time tying her shoelaces than finding Francis and Francis didn’t have much time left, so she left it to trail as she pedalled hard.

Cass dumped her bike into the bushes when she came around the bend. Whatever she was looking for, it was here. The warehouse stood silently against the dusky sky. The streetlights had already came on when she had cycled across town. She should have taken some water but she hadn’t wasted a moment when she got home late that afternoon. Hadn’t cared to fill a bottle of water.  Besides, in order to fill a bottle of water, she had to climb up to the sink. There was no way Papa wouldn’t have had noticed that. Cass swallowed thickly, feeling her tongue thick and languid in her too dry mouth. The gravel crunched loudly beneath her feet. There was no point lingering. It wasn’t going to help Francis unless she planned to let Francis die, in that case she could have done it from the relative comfort of her bed.

She licked her lips nervously then summoned whatever courage she had. Darcy Cassandra Lewis had never been a coward even in face of bullies - that is, the biggest she had faced was Sam Marty who was only a tenth grader, these people were Edward’s and Papa’s age. She stopped with her head twisted around, staring wistfully at her pink bicycle. “Come on Darcy Cass,” she muttered. She untied Mr Bunny from her backpack and gripped him tightly.

Ignoring the looming shadows, she pulled her entire height, clenching her jaw as she marched up to the warehouse. There were the boxes that she had expected, large empty boxes. It bothered how she had _known_ this when it was the first time she was here. No time for pensive thoughts. She tugged at the boxes, feeling something unwind in her. The tight coil in her stomach unfurling as she crawled through the hole.

Cass could hear the rise of pitch as she crawled closer to the centre of the warehouse. The space beneath the large industrial shelves had provided a very convenient hiding spot. She was hidden in the shadows, trying to pick out Francis from the mob. It wasn’t really a mob, a gathering, a cluster of people. Francis was tied onto a chair and bleeding heavily.

“I’ll ask you one more time.” The dark haired man said. There was a cruel smile on his face, a cruel smile filled with intentions of hurting her second brother. She had seen that smile in Sam directed at her. Why was Francis letting the cruel man hurt him? Francis was powerful and strong. She had seen him pound Sam to the ground. Anyone who could beat Sam could beat that man. “Where did you hide it?” He lowered the wicked blade, tracing Francis’s thigh with it.

“Go to hell.” The man growled and chips of wood flew into the air as he slammed his knife into the chair. Her breath hitched, watching the scene with rapt attention. She had to go out now. Go out from the safety of the shadows. There was no way she knew what was going to happen. There had been an idea but nothing what Cass had imagined. She had come here, followed the weird probing gut feeling. It had served her well for many years, there was no reason to believe it would let her down today.

Tucking Mr Bunny into the pocket of space, Cass got up with her teeth chattering and said with all the courage she could find in her, “Francis?”

His head whipped around, twisting in fear and pain. “No,” he said hollowly. “What are you doing here?” His eyes darted upwards and back to the cruel man. “Jacques, please. She has no idea what’s going on.”

Jacques chuckled. “Is this the famous sister?” He crouched and beckoned to her. “Come here little girl.” Despite the fact that Cass wanted nothing more than to run back to her bicycle and cycle home, she compelled her feet to step forward. There was no going back. “What is your name little girl?”

“Cass.” She replied and allowed him to pick her up, hoisting her onto his hip the way Mami used to. Edward and Francis never did that, they knew she preferred the view from their shoulders.

“What a common name. Your mother must not have loved you when she named you.”

“She named me after Cass Aus’ten,” she said, though she tripped over Austen’s name. She never quite got the hang of enunciating Austen.

“So she named her boys Dashwood and Willoughby but you got Cass? How terribly sexist of her.”

“Well she did like Cass Austen a lot,” Francis told him. “It’s a bigger thing to named after her favourite author’s sister rather than her favourite characters.” He jerked his tied hands, glancing back and forth before resting on Cass.

The men that surrounded them shifted uncomfortably. Cass leaned against Jacques’ shoulder, peered around to catch the eyes of the men. Her gut seemed to grunt in exasperation at the growing trembling in her body as though to tell her that there was nothing to be afraid of. There was no way of knowing how she expected to come out unscathed, let alone save her brother. Then there at the outer ring of the men, she caught the eye of a ginger haired man and a blonde man.

“Please. Darcy really doesn’t know anything.” Francis pleaded, struggling against his bonds. “She’s just _six_ for god’s sake.”

“Six.” Jacques caressed her cheek and Cass fought the urge to vomit. “A model of innocence,” he leered at her. “Now if you won’t tell me, then I suppose I’ll just… have to take your sister.”

“No! Please.” Francis hung his head. “I’ll tell you. Don’t hurt her.”

Jacques smirked but before either men could get a word out, Cass bit down on the man’s hand hard. The taste of iron filled her mouth before he flung her away. “The little bitch!” he hollered, gripping his hand.

Cass tried to turn herself away, bracing herself for the smack of the pipes. The coil in her stomach bloomed and cushioned her fall. She bounced into the pipes harmlessly once before someone snatched her out of the air, cradling her close, pressing her face into his chest as chaos erupted around her.

“Barney,” Jacques said coldly.

“It’s over Jacques,” another voice said.

“So the traitors turned out to be the brothers. I should have known. Where did you hide it?”

“Nowhere you can get to,” said the man who holding her.

“And why’s that, Clint?”

“See, us brothers had an agreement,” the other voice replied laconically. “We ain’t gonna do shit until you broke that line and the mom’ you got a kid involved, you broke it. Sick bastards don’t deserve to live.”

Cass heard the angry roar and the scuffle but the boy who carried her pressed her head against his chest. “Don’t look sweetheart,” he murmured. “Your brother’s okay. He’ll be okay.”

Several moments later, the pressure on her head was released and he breathed a large breath. Cass turned her head upwards, catching the boy’s blond hair and blue eyes. “Hi. It’s a bit late but I’m Clint Barton,” he gestured to the ginger man who was covering Jacques body with a piece of cloth. “That’s my brother, Barney.”

“She’s six, Clint,” Barney said to him.

“And a pretty thing she is,” Clint said but without that icky feeling that the other man gave her. He placed her down onto the ground, a light hand on her shoulder. 

Bodies littered the warehouse. Bodies that weren’t moving. Cass averted her eyes, glancing at her brother who was being helped by someone else. She shook from Clint’s grasp and scuttled to the space where she had hid Mr Bunny.

“Cass?” Clint called out, following her. “It’s safe. No one here’s going to hurt you,” he said when she disappeared beneath the space.  Cass tugged Mr Bunny out, holding it close to her. “Shit. Is that it?” he said but made no move to take it.

“Will. You hid it in your sister’s stuffed toy?” he asked in an incredulous tone.

Francis chuckled and limped towards them. “Where else better to hide it.”

Clint swore, running a hand through his messy hair. “If you go with them, there’s no going back. You know that, right?”

“I know.” Francis laid a hand on her head. “Hey Darce, you shouldn’t have come. You should have been home safe.” He pulled her close. Cass could hear the shaking in his voice. She knew it was going to be the last time she saw him, the last time for a very long time. “I’m still so glad I could see you for the last time.” His body trembled and he leaned his face into her hair. “I’m so sorry. I’m so very sorry Darce.”

She held Mr Bunny to him. “Take care of him,” she said, meeting his brown eyes with her blue eyes.

“I will.”

“Take care of Mr Bunny,” she said again, clenching his clammy hand.

“I will.” He brushed her fringe from her face. “Clint will look after you while I’m gone until Edward comes back. You’ll be a good girl okay?”

She nodded, letting Clint pull her away from Francis. A single tear trickled from the corner of her eye and Cass willed herself not to cry anymore. She was going to be a big girl now. That meant no more crying.

“He’ll be okay,” Clint told her as he heaved the the bicycle into the backseat and helped her up the passenger seat.

“I know,” that was all she said the rest of the drive. Something in her changed that night. She knew things, felt things and there was no going back from that.


	3. Chapter 3

“I don’t get it. What was it Francis was hiding? Where is he hiding it?” Edward ran a hand through his hair. “He could have called me or something. Called me instead of running away.”

“I don’t know. That was the last time I heard of him.” Cass shook her head with a roll of her shoulders. “I tried to ask but he didn’t tell me.”

Edward sank onto her bed, hands cupping his forehead. “I always thought he ran away. I mean dad wasn’t the best dad, but he wasn’t the worst. Overzealous and somewhat condescending-”

Cass scoffed loudly. “To you maybe. He’s just overbearing and hurtful to the rest of us.”

“But you survived.”

She flopped onto the bed, pulling the blanket over her. Had it not been for Clint she might not come out in one piece. The weight of Clint’s name lingered on the edge of her tongue but she chose to hold her peace. He had explicitly asked her not to mention him to anyone. Was Edward include anyone else?

“For what it’s worth, I think you grew up well.” Edward said as he finally left her in peace.

Certainly wasn’t because of him or _Dad_. Clint had made a point to come by every few weeks after Francis left, taught her to ice-skate, taught her math. Cass muffled a sigh with her pillow then eventually falling asleep.

—-

She was out in the middle of the night, fighting the odd gangsters and saving damsels in distress. It helped to stave the helplessness she felt while living at her home. Just another three years before she could leave home. Cass leapt out from the top of the roof, sending a tendril of energy to push herself just enough land onto the other rooftop when she felt a presence beside her.

“You’re getting really good at the whole jumping across rooftops things, Miss Vigliante,” the baritone said.

Cass spun in excitement, lips grinning from side to side, pulling her face mask off. “Clint! I was wondering when I was going to see you again.”

He shrugged, pulling a thin metal piece out of the haversack. “Edward was around, I didn’t want to encroach on his territory.”

“His territory?” she scoffed. “You make it sound like you two are dogs.”

She could make out the arch of his eyebrow in the dark rooftop, the wry smile as he replied, “Are men not dogs? We get mad when we find other people sniffing around our stuff.”

“Well… if you put it like that.” She replied. He placed the metal piece in her hand. It was light but felt strong and flexible. “What’s this?”

Clint looped a string onto one end, fingers nimbly running across the metal. Slipping part of the string underneath his shoe, he pulled it up and shoved the bow into her hands along with a quiver of arrows and an armguard.

“Is this…”

“Well, that’s not Beatrice. That’s yours. You do still remember how to shoot, right?”

Cass burst out laughing at his words. “Geez! I still remember you teaching me physics while using a bow!” She donned the guard, testing the tension the string. On her right, Clint watched her motions as she observed him. He looked so much more tired than she last saw him, there was something off about him that Cass could not put her finger on. Was it the world-weariness that he seemed to carry?

She pursed her lips, nocking an arrow towards the beer can that Clint had found and placed on the ledge. Why had he given her the bow? It was no Beatrice, but Cass knew he and Barney had difficulty scraping by. The bow was well-made that she knew it could not have been cheap.

Holding her breath, Cass steadied the arrow. The arrow flew, landing into the centre of the can.

“Perfect.” He inclined his head with a satisfied smile.

“Why the bow?” Logically, Cass had guessed why. His reasons were probably not a very far stretch to deduce. “You’re leaving?” she asked softly.

Clint nodded, digging into his hoodie’s pockets.

“You’re not coming back, are you?” His silence was all she needed. “Will I ever see you again?”

He didn’t answer. It was a difficult question that if Clint was going where Francis went, then she would probably never see him again as well. Cass felt the hot prickle in her eyes and try as she did, she was unable to stop the slow trickle down her cheek. Clint wrapped his arms around her, she gripped the back of his shirt, pressing her face into his warm chest.

“I’ll miss you,” she whispered.

“I’ll miss you more.”

They stood there in silence. Cass taking comfort to the sound of his heartbeating, he was the big brother that Edward could never be and he was so much more than that. She took a shuddering breath, willing herself to stop crying but knowing she couldn’t and pulled herself away from his embrace. Fingers brushing the endless stream of tears as she sniffed.

“Goodbye Miss Vigilante.”

“Goodbye Hawkeye.”

He stepped back, jumping onto the ledge. “You know. I kinda like that name. I might use it.”

Cass allowed a tight smile flicker across her face and he was gone.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the final chapter for this prologue. 
> 
> I know that Darcy (or Cass as she’s still currently calling herself that at this age) is a bit off here. The path chosen is just a lead on to the actual story, which is also the reason why this has not been posted on Ao3 yet. 
> 
>  


End file.
